On February 5, President Trump signed an executive order (EO) that aims to ban transgender women from participating in women's and girls' sports. This is the fourth order concerning transgender people that Trump has signed since his inauguration, with others relating to gender classification, gender-affirming medical care for minors and transgender military service. Trump strongly opposed transgender participation in women's sports throughout his campaign, so executive action on the issue was widely expected in the administration's early days.
The EO, "Keeping Men out of Women's Sports," interprets Title IX of the Education Amendments of 1972 to prohibit transgender male-to-female persons' participation in women's and girls' sports. Specifically, the Trump administration takes the position that allowing transgender women to participate in women's sports deprives cisgender women of "equal opportunity" as required by Title IX.
As we've written previously, this new EO comes on the heels of a federal court's invalidation of a Final Rule reflecting the Biden administration's interpretation of Title IX to prohibit discrimination based on sexual orientation and gender identity. The Trump EO directs the Secretary of Education to ensure compliance with the federal court's decision and to take "all appropriate action to affirmatively protect all-female athletic opportunities and all-female locker rooms." In doing so, it prompts the Department of Education to update Title IX regulations to explicitly prohibit transgender participation in women's sports.
Other major provisions of the EO include:
- Directing the Secretary of Education to prioritize Title IX enforcement actions against educational institutions and athletic associations that allow transgender participation in women's sports
- Requiring executive departments and agencies to review grants and rescind funding to institutions that allow transgender participation in women's sports
- Directing the Assistant to the President for Domestic Policy to convene with major athletic organizations and governing bodies to adapt policies that align with the EO
- Directing the State Department to order changes to the standards used by the International Olympic Committee, which have historically aligned with global governing bodies, to align with the EO
Almost immediately after the White House issued "Keeping Men out of Women's Sports," the NCAA issued a revised Participation Policy for Transgender Student-Athletes. The revised policy aligns with the EO in disallowing student-athletes assigned male at birth from competing on NCAA women's teams, but the revised policy does allow such athletes to practice with women's teams. The policy also expressly states that schools remain subject to local, state, and federal legislation and such legislation supersedes the rules of the NCAA. Importantly, it may be difficult for schools to reconcile the EO with the many state and local laws that protect transgender individuals from discrimination.
There have been several notable cases making their way through the federal courts on the issue of transgender participation in sports at all levels. For example, in 2024, NY Attorney General Leticia James sued Nassau County in Long Island over a law that excludes transgender women and girls from participating in any girls' and women's sports, leagues, organizations, teams or programs held at any public facility or venue. There are also challenges to West Virginia and Idaho laws prohibiting transgender male-to-female participation in female sports that have had success in the federal appellate courts that may be heard by the Supreme Court.
We expect legal challenges to transgender sports bans to continue, and questions remain about whether the EO will survive legal challenges, and if it does, how federal agencies will enforce it. In the wake of the EO, some schools have already removed transgender inclusion policies from their websites in response to the EO, and we expect most schools participating in NCAA athletics to align with the NCAA's revised policy. But at the state and local level, we expect to continue to see differing approaches. For example, the Illinois High School Association issued a statement shortly after the EO came out recommitting to its transgender participation policy based on adherence to Illinois state law.
In the wake of the EO, schools will need to review their current policies in tandem with the policies of their governing bodies, athletic conferences, and state and local law. Venable will continue to monitor the situation in the coming months. If you have further questions about how "Keeping Men out of Women's Sports" will impact your organization and its programs, please contact the authors of this article or any other attorney in Venable's Labor and Employment or Sports groups.